This document provides a biography of the poet John Donne. It discusses his family background and Catholic upbringing in England during the Protestant reign. It describes his education at Oxford and Cambridge and later career path, including secret marriage, imprisonment, and eventual ordination as an Anglican priest. The document also summarizes some of Donne's major poems and themes, touching on his early sensual works and later religious poems. It positions Donne as a transitional poet between the Elizabethan and Renaissance eras who was influential both in his lifetime and after his death.

1. John Donne was born in London in 1572 into the family of the successful
and wealthy ironmonger John Donne. His mother, Elizabeth Heywood,
was descended from the family of Sir Thomas More. Elizabeth was an
accomplished literary woman, the author of epigrams and interludes,
although she did not live long enough to teach John much about poetry or
writing. Both sides of Donne's family were respected Catholics in an
England in which the dominant religion had become Anglicanism.
When Donne was very young (between the ages of four and five) his
parents died in rapid succession. He was put in the care of Dr. John
Syminges, who his mother had married after the death of John Donne
senior. The young Donne was, like most children of his class at this time,
educated at home until he went to Hart Hall (now Hertford College),
Oxford, in 1583. After three years there he went on to Cambridge for
another three. Since he was a Catholic, neither university would grant him
a degree. He left university and studied law at Lincoln's Inn in 1592.
As a young man Donne was, by any standard and certainly by those of a
future clergyman, wild and even dissipated. His early poems, "many of
them outspokenly sensual and at times cruelly cynical" (Chambers 413),
do not reconcile easily with much of the divine literature of his later life.
There is some evidence that he had at least one affair with a married
woman, and also that he frittered away a large portion of his inheritance in
unworthy pursuits.
Donne traveled in Europe for a time, and he was part of the English
military force, headed by the Earl of Essex, which fought the Spanish at
Cadiz. He spent a few years in Spain and then in Italy, returning to
England at the age of twenty-five. In England he was appointed secretary
to Sir Thomas Egerton, who was the Lord-Keeper of the Great Seal, a high
government office. This brought Donne into contact with many influential
and important people in governmental, court, literary, and church circles.
A great amount of Donne's poetry was written during this time, but he did
not attempt to publish any of it. It was passed from hand to hand in
manuscript form.
While in Egerton's service, Donne met and fell in love with the Lord-
Keeper's niece, Anne More. In 1601, when Donne was twenty-nine and
Anne was seventeen, the two secretly married, presumably because if they
had married openly they would have met opposition from her family. This
action lost Donne his position with the Lord-Keeper, and he was thrown

2. into Fleet Prison for several weeks. What followed were several years of
poverty for the couple, with Donne trying, unsuccessfully, to attach
himself to another high official in the government. Doubtless, his Catholic
faith and his willingness to deceive authority figures did not help his
career at this time.
Donne was elected to Parliament for Brackley in 1602, but since Members
were not paid it did not help the Donne family's finances. Donne continued
to write, including some poetry that might be considered "on commission"
for his rich friends.
By 1610 Donne had begun to write polemics against his own faith,
Catholicism. It is not clear exactly what turned Donne away from this faith
which his family had so famously adhered to in the face of adversity in
years past. Perhaps Donne did have a true spiritual change of heart, or
perhaps the difficulties of his faith and the needs of his growing family
made him accept (or at least pretend to accept) the dominant faith of his
time.
Once married, the Donnes had a new baby almost every year, and for a
long time they were dependent on Anne Donne's cousin, Sir Francis
Wolly. Financial security and success would not come until Donne had
joined the Anglican Church. Notably during this time, Donne
wrote Biathanos (a defense of suicide), the Holy Sonnets, and other divine
poems.
In 1611 Donne printed his first poem, an elegy for Sir Robert Drury's
daughter. This was followed by other published poems, and the Drurys
took Donne into their home as well as abroad with them to Paris. Donne's
anti-Catholic writing had attracted the notice of King James I, who
encouraged him to enter the clergy of the Anglican church. Finally, in
1615, Donne did so. He was almost instantly successful as a clergyman,
being offered several posts during the first year of his divinity. In this year
Donne became a Royal Chaplain, and within three years he obtained his
doctorate of divinity from Cambridge.
Anne Donne died after giving birth to their twelfth child (stillborn) in
1617. His surviving children numbered ten, although three died before
they were ten years old. Donne never remarried, though it would have
been in his best interest to do so for his large family. It is apparent both
from his poetry and from historical writing about him that he mourned her
deeply.

3. After Anne's death, Donne devoted himself wholeheartedly to religion and
theology, and he became a successful clergyman and a highly sought-after
sermonist. In 1621 Donne became the Dean of St. Paul's Cathedral in
London, which was a very well-paid and influential post within the Church
of England. He held this post until his death in 1631. During the last ten
years of his life, his literary output was mostly sermons.
As was the fashion and custom of the day, Donne's poems were mostly
circulated in manuscript form. A collection of them was not made until
after his death in 1633. His earliest poetry, which is often graphically
sensual in nature, might have embarrassed the staid and respected Dean of
St. Paul's in his later life. The fashion of poetry was slowly changing from
the Elizabethan freedom of expression to a more restrained style. Donne's
existing oeuvre spans his early sensuality and intellectual experimentation
up to the dogmatic and theological works of his later years. His style,
though recognizable throughout, changed with his changes in status and
the events around him.
Spanning the Elizabethan and Renaissance worlds, Donne can be viewed
as a transitional poet: both sensual and divine, constrained and free. He has
been studied consistently since his death, weathering fashions in poetry
and criticism, and his poetry and prose have provided food for thought
across many successive generations.
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“To His Mistress Going to Bed” is one of Donne’s elegies written published after his death as
a part of his collection of metaphysical poetry. The term “elegy” is used to refer to a poem
which is written to mourn the dead or the death itself. There are some discrepancies as to the
titling of the collection of Donne’s poems with this term, but it is determined to stem from
Ovid’s influence on the poet’s work.
This particular poem has a male speaker who is clearly trying to seduce a woman and make
her come to bed with him. The poem is written as a combination of courting and sexual
aggressiveness of language, where the Ovid’s influence is determined, and it could be
analyzed as having satirical undertones. It is structured as a one long stanza poem with
couplet rhyme. The themes explored in the poem are sexuality, love, physicality, and truth.

4. The poem "A Valediction: Of Weeping" was published two years after the poet’s
death, and it was believed to be written as a dedication to his wife Anne. Some argue that the
poem’s ambiguity and metaphysical contemplation speak against the claim that the poem
stemmed from Donne’s own life and experiences, but the overall theme of parting of lovers
and going on a life-threatening journey corresponds with the poet’s autobiographical
information.
The poem was written in four equally structured stanzas. The speaker of the poem is an
unfortunate lover who has to leave his loved one behind to go on a journey that could
potentially cause his death. The parting is already painful enough but the speaker warns his
loved one to not cry and mourn for him in advance, as it can be a bad omen. The poem is rich
in metaphors and symbolic language. The poem’s theme on the surface is a theme of lovers’
grief, but it contemplates metaphysical themes of life and death.
"The Good-Morrow" is a 1633 poem by English poet John Donne.
The poem was originally published in his collection Songs and
Sonnets, and Donne himself considered it a sonnet, despite the fact
that it doesn’t conform to the standard number of lines, stanzas, or
the rhyme-scheme of either the Shakespearean or Petrarchan
sonnet. Though the poem contains several allusions to Christianity
and Christian themes, its content suggests that it is meant as a love
poem addressed to an actual lover, rather than to God or Christ.
John Donne: Poems Study Guide
John Donne is so widely quoted that he ranks near the top of the canon of well-known
authors, not far behind his near contemporary, William Shakespeare. Perhaps his best-known
line, from Meditation 17 in Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions, a prose work, is
often quoted as poetic: "No man is an island."
Donne has enjoyed a rather cyclical popularity with critics and the reading public, going
through phases of celebration and ignorance. He is, for most readers, a difficult poet. Other
metaphysical poets, such as Andrew Marvell, have enjoyed a steadier, if less glamorous,
regard, since much of their poetry is more accessible. Donne, who almost never seems
completely accessible even at his most seemingly transparent, requires great dedication on
the part of the reader--and, perhaps, gives more lasting rewards.
A division in Donne's poetry can be drawn between his early, sensual love poetry (often full
of Christian imagery but carnal in tone) and his later, largely sacred poetry. There are
exceptions, but this is a generally useful distinction. It will be noted that in almost no edition
of Donne's works are dates hazarded for most of his poems, and it is difficult in some cases to
make even this basic division. Even though publication dates may be available for some
poems during Donne's lifetime, it is important to remember that his poems were often
circulated for many years in manuscript before publication was sought. Therefore, the dates

5. of printing are meaningless as origination dates except as the latest possible date for any
particular poem.
Donne had had several reverses in his life, including the deaths of his parents, the deaths of
several of his children at birth and under the age of ten, financial difficulties and, perhaps
most poignantly, the early death of his wife. His hardships as an adult would eventually
change him from the young spendthrift and sometime soldier who wrote "The Sunne Rising"
to the somber, almost death-obsessed writer of the Holy Sonnets and the Meditations of
Devotions upon Emergent Occasions.
Useful generalizations about so large and varied a body of work as Donne's are not
easy. He was a profoundly religious poet, with a peculiarly strong hold on and interest
in the physical things of life. He used a unique lens to view his world, creating
spectactularly unlikely comparisons that enlightened the reader on the nature of both of
the things compared, sometimes in surprising ways. He continues to be read and
discussed today, four hundred years.
John Donne: Poems Summary
Donne is firmly within the camp of metaphysical poets--those poets for whom considerations
of the spiritual world were paramount compared to all earthly considerations. While a master
of metaphysical expression, Donne achieves this mastery by refusing to deny the place of the
physical world and its passions. He often begins with a seemingly carnal image only to turn it
into an argument for the supremacy of God and the immortality of the soul.
Donne's poetry falls most simply into two categories: those works composed and published
prior to his entering the ministry, and those which follow his taking up the call to serve God.
While many of his later poems are certainly more in the metaphysical vein that Donne has
become famous for, it is nonetheless a matter of little debate that his work has a certain
continuity. There is no sharp division of style or poetic ability between the two phases of
Donne's literary career. Instead, it is only the emphasis of subject matter that changes. Donne
is ever concerned with matters of the heart, be they between a man and a woman or between
a man and his Creator. It is in his later poetry that Donne most often fuses the two into a
seemingly paradoxical combination of physical and spiritual that gives light to our
understanding of both.
"The Flea": A flea has bitten both lovers, and now the flea marks their union because it
has both of their blood. The poet asks his lover not to kill it, but the lover does, and finds
herself not diminished. When she yields to her lover, he says, her honor likewise will not be
diminished, so there's nothing to fear by going for it.
"Lovers' Infiniteness": The poet complains that he does not yet have “all” of his
beloved’s love, despite using all of his resources to woo her. She should not leave some love
for others, nor should she leave herself open to wooing by others later. Yet, he also wants her
to keep some of her love for him in reserve so that they can enjoy a constantly growing
relationship.
"Litanie": This poem follows the Order of Mass in that it mimics the order in which the
congregation asks the various divine and holy entities to pray for them: the Father, the Son,
the Holy Ghost, the Trinity, the Virgin Mary, the angels, the patriarchs, the prophets, the
apostles, the martyrs, the confessors, the virgins, and the doctors. The poet prays to be free
from anxiety, temptation, vanity, misdirection, sin and, ultimately, death.

6. "The Sunne Rising": The poet asks the sun why it is shining in and disturbing him and
his lover in bed. The sun should go away and do other things rather than disturb them, like
wake up ants or rush late schoolboys to start their day. Lovers should be permitted to make
their own time as they see fit. After all, sunbeams are nothing compared to the power of love,
and everything the sun might see around the world pales in comparison to the beloved’s
beauty, which encompasses it all. The bedroom is the whole world.
"Song" ("Goe, and catche a falling starre"): The reader is told to do
impossible things like catch a meteor or find a "true and fair" woman after a lifetime of
travels. The poet wishes he could go and see such a woman if she existed, but he knows that
she would turn false by the time he got there.
"The Indifferent": The poet will willingly have an affair with any woman, so long as
she isn’t trying to be faithful to her current lover or to him. Don’t plan on a man being
faithful to you either, the poet tells the woman he is now wooing; just about everyone plays
around. Don’t bind a man; he will stray. Even Venus investigated the issue and verified that
virtually everyone is false.
“Death Be Not Proud" (Holy Sonnet 10) presents an argument against the power
of death. Addressing Death as a person, the speaker warns Death against pride in his power.
Such power is merely an illusion, and the end Death thinks it brings to men and women is in
fact a rest from world-weariness for its alleged “victims.” The poet criticizes Death as a slave
to other forces: fate, chance, kings, and desperate men. Death is not in control, for a variety of
other powers exercise their volition in taking lives. Even in the rest it brings, Death is inferior
to drugs. Finally, the speaker predicts the end of Death itself, stating “Death, thou shalt die.”
"The Anniversary": A year has passed, and everything has grown older, drawing
closer to their end. In contrast, the one ageless thing is the unchanging love the poet shares
with his lover. Although their bodies will be in separate graves when they die, their eternal
souls will be reunited when they are resurrected. For now, the two are kings in their world of
love, secure in their faithfulness, and he hopes that they will be together for 60 anniversaries.
“Good Friday, 1613, Riding Westward”: On the day that Christians remember
the crucifixion of Jesus, the poet is traveling west but thinks of the Holy Land to the east.
He can hardly imagine seeing Jesus die on the cross with his own eyes, so he turns his
thoughts to Mary for a moment. Traveling west, his back faces east, and he calls upon divine
mercy and grace to cleanse him of his sin so that he feels able to turn his face back towards
God.
“Sweetestlove, I do not go”: The poet tells his beloved that he is not leaving because
he is tired of the relationship—instead, he must go as a duty. After all, the sun departs each
night but returns every morning. As the beloved sighs and cries, the lover complains that if he
is really within her, she is the one letting him go because he is part of her tears and breath. He
asks her not to fear any evil that may befall him while he is gone, and besides, they keep each
other alive in their hearts and therefore are never truly parted.
"Meditation 17": Donne is approaching death. Hearing a church bell signifying a
funeral, he observes that every death diminishes the large fabric of humanity. We are all in
this world together, and we ought to use the suffering of others to learn how to live better so
that we are better prepared for our own death, which is merely a translation to another world.
"The Bait": The speaker addresses his beloved as one whose beauty naturally attracts
others, like a fisherman who attracts fish while hardly even trying. While others may catch
fish in slimy, hurtful, deceiving ways, the beloved is her “own bait.”

7. “The Apparition”: The beloved has scorned the poet, and he tells her that once he is
dead, he will visit her bed later as a ghost. She will ask her living lover for help, but he will
turn away, leaving her alone to fear him. He urges her to repent now rather than face his
wrath later.
"The Canonization": The poet demands that some complainer leave him alone to love.
The complainer should turn his attention elsewhere, and nobody is hurt by the love. The poet
and his lover take their own chances together; they are unified in their love. On the other
hand, their love is a beautiful example for the world that will be immortalized, canonized, a
pattern for all other love in the world.
"The Broken Heart": The speaker says that it is ludicrous to argue that someone can’t
fall out of love quickly, although he himself has felt the plague of a broken heart for a year. A
broken heart is an overwhelming grief. In a single blow, his beloved shattered his heart. Now,
like a broken mirror, the many pieces of his heart are too weak for love again.
"A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning": The beloved should not openly mourn
being separated from the poet. Their love is spiritual, like the legs of a compass that are
joined together at the top even if one moves around while the other stays in the center. She
should remain firm and not stray so that he can return home to find her again.
“Hymn to God, My God, in My Sickness”: The speaker faces the possibility of
his own death by focusing on his preparation for Heaven. He must tune himself in order to
become God’s musical instrument. Or, he is like a map, where the westernmost and
easternmost points are the same and his death will be transfigured into resurrection.
Holy Sonnet 14 ("Batter my heart"): The speaker asks God to intensify the effort
to restore the speaker’s soul. God should overthrow him like a besieged town. He asks God to
break the knots holding him back, imprisoning him in order to free him, and taking him by
force in order to purify him.
Holy Sonnet 11 ("Spit in my face"):While heretics might scourge the poet as they
did Jesus due to his faith, the poet is far from blameless. He is re-crucifying Jesus daily
because of his sins. While other kings enact mercy by pardoning criminals, Jesus actually
bore the punishment, making himself suffer as a human so as to redeem sinful humanity.
after he lived.